Telangana CM plans protest in Delhi over high court issue

(IANS) Amid a raging row over appointment of Andhra origin judges in Telangana, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao plans to stage a protest in Delhi to demand immediate bifurcation of the high court.

His daughter and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MP K. Kavitha told reporters here on Tuesday that the chief minister proposes to stage ‘dharna’ (sit-in) in the national capital but the state government did not want to escalate things.

Alleging that the central government is “insensitive” over the issue, she appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately intervene in the issue.

The Lok Sabha member from Nizamabad said it would not be good if the chief minister holds a ‘dharna’ in Delhi as it will become an international news. “The Centre should intervene to prevent such a protest from happening,” she said.

The High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad is serving both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Kavitha recalled that TRS MPs raised the issue in Parliament and the chief minister appealed to Modi “10 times” for bifurcation of the high court.

She alleged that Modi never responded on the demand. She also targeted Congress president Sonia Gandhi for not raising the issue.

The TRS leader alleged that the central government was not bifurcating the high court under the political pressure by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is a partner in the BJP-led NDA central government.

She also claimed that there is a conspiracy to allot Andhra origin judges in Telangana.

Her comments come against the backdrop of ongoing agitation by Telangana lawyers and judges against provisional allocation of judicial officers of Andhra origin to the subordinate courts in Telangana.